President Trump leads a rare alliance meeting on critical minerals, aiming to secure supply chains and counter China’s market dominance.
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump’s administration will lead a rare diplomatic meeting of over 50 countries to secure stable supplies of critical minerals. The move marks a departure from his typical “America First” stance, driven by concerns over China’s market dominance.
China mines roughly 60% of the world’s rare earths and processes about 90%, vital for technologies from smartphones to fighter jets. Last year, Beijing tightened its supply chain, prompting global economic anxiety and a temporary one-year reprieve deal with the US in October.
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said the emerging “global coalition” could involve tariff-free trade among members. He suggested the bloc might regulate minimum prices for key minerals to counter market flooding.
“If you have someone who’s dominant who can flood a market with a particular material, they have the ability to essentially destroy the economic value of a company or a country’s production,” Burgum said.
Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio will lead the one-day ministerial meeting. Senior officials from India, Italy, and Israel are among those attending, reflecting varied geopolitical interests in reducing reliance on China.
Concurrently, Trump continues to pursue US-centric strategies. He recently unveiled “Project Vault,” a stockpiling initiative for critical minerals and industrial materials.
“We’re not just doing certain minerals and rare earths. We’re doing everything,” Trump said of the project.
The project will be funded by a RM47 billion loan from the US Export-Import Bank and RM8 billion in private capital. This follows earlier US-led cooperation, such as the Minerals Security Partnership launched under President Joe Biden.
The European Union, despite friction with Trump, hopes to secure a formal rare earths agreement with the US. An EU official stressed the need to avoid bidding against each other for the same supplies.
